I heard about this game years ago, and I was crazy psyched for it: I promptly completely forgot about it. Fast forward to a week or so ago, and I remembered this game existed, and bagged one on eBay really quick. When I finally got into the game, I was little lukewarm at first, as I really didn't understand how you unlocked characters, but once I got past that hurdle, I was soooo into this game. Into it like CRAZY (15 hours in 3-ish days) and played it until I unlocked every character, even the support and helper ones (although not every Koma evolution).

This is far and away the best Smash-like fighter I've ever played. Part of that lies in the solid game mechanics, and another lies in the excellent use of licenses. This is definitely the Smash-like I've played that's most like Smash Bros in terms of overall mechanics (punch other dude 'til he fall off level), but the fact that you also have super moves and a health bar (not to mention various other game modes and swappable characters with support moves) really adds a fuck-load to the formula.

The game's main mechanic is the Deck-system, in which you use the panels you get from completing stages to compile little manga-like pages. These pages hold battle Koma (panels), support Koma, and finally helper Koma. Battle Koma are your actual fighters. You can have 3 of them in a deck at once, and you can swap between them any time during a fight. Support are your more MvC-style they-hop-in-and-do-a-thing-type attacks. Of the 48 playable battle characters, there are far more support characters, and even more helper characters (which just provide a small boost to a battle Koma they're compatible with). You can use the R and L buttons as hotkeys to activate specific support calls or battle character swaps, but any more than two and you'll have to touch that panel on the touch screen to actually do it. I'm not sure how the meta would play out on that on a competitive scene, but I never had any problems using it. More than 2 supports on one deck is unwieldy to handle, and I usually stuck to two battlers, two supports, and then whatever helpers I wanted to throw in.

The stages themselves have one main objective, usually split between a score-based time attack (how many point can you earn), a stock match, and a collect all the things. There are weirder events which are more uncommon like trying not to get hit for a long time or destroying all the walls as fast as you can, but they're very uncommon. There are also 4 or 5 sub-objectives in each stages, which don't need to be completed in the same playthrough of that stage (and usually can't be). There are quite a lot of stages to actually play on for a mobile game, and even though they aren't insanely diverse, I'd put the stage selection at least on par if not better than Smash 3DS. You have things like collapsing platforms and destroyable walls of varrying durability to content with as well, so you've got to get a good grip on your surroundings quickly to use them as well as possible to fulfil the stage objectives.

Now, the licenses, are there ever a fuck-load. I'd try and name them all, but it's a lot easier if you just looked up a list online, because frankly if it was a franchise JUMP owned in 2007, it's in this damn game. Of the 48 playable characters, there certainly aren't that many franchises. Big players like Dragon Ball have 7 battlers (more than any other I found), and other heavy hitters like Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach have 4 or 5 a piece as well. However, there are a lot of older favorites and weirder cult classics that also have 2 or 3 playable characters, like Bobobo Bobobobo, Hunter X Hunter, Fist of the North Star, Jojo's Bizzard Adventure, and even fucking Yu-Gi-Oh (yes, really) to name just a few. Support characters do exist from every present franchise though.

The characters have a kind of type devision between them in a rock-paper-scissors style formula (laughter, power, and wisdom) where the stronger type get 1.5x damage on the weaker, which is a bit strange and not really necessary, but it's there. I imagine if you wanted to get REALLY competitive in this, that would be a serious annoyance, but for me, it mostly just prompted me to learn a few more characters of each type and encourages different, more diverse teams for different situations. My 3 main teams were two dudes of each type, with team Strength being Ken (Fist of the North Star) and Luffy (One Piece) (whom you start with, and whom I really liked), team Wisdom being Sasuke (Naruto) and Piccolo (Dragon Ball Z), and team Laughter being Don Patch (Bobobo) and Frankie (One Piece). I didn't get close to trying every character though. There're just SO damn many, and considering that you have to put together a new deck to try a new set of characters, it's not the fastest thing in the world to just breeze through all the ones you have.

Even if you have just a passing interest in Anime, you'll probably love the theme of this game. I'm very far from an Anime-freak, despite being a Japanese Language & Culture Major, but even I got such a thrill when I saw characters I knew, especially if it's one of my favorites (like Bobobo!). Even if you understand NO Japanese, this is still a fun, fairly idiot-proof game if you just wanna play every stage and beat up mans as Animus. Just remember that you've gotta up the J-Power of your Koma to actually unlock new battle Koma! This stumped me for far longer than it should've Xp. The objectives aren't that complex to figure out. Then again, if you're someone like me who wants to unlock ALL the dudes, you might wanna look into that English patch that Exhumy Senpai linked a little while ago in the "What are you Playing?" thread. Alternatively, there are some very good guides on Gamefaqs in English that explain exactly what to do, and they were more than adequate for when I got confused on stuff.

Things where the game falls a bit flat usually come down to smaller quality of life things. There are way too many menus which need to be backed in and out of when it comes to assembling decks. It really doesn't utilize the touch screen or double screens for assembling decks and viewing Koma information as well as it could (the number of times I wished there were a faster way to go through the dozens and dozens of helper Koma to do upgrading were many). Also, unless you're a MASSIVE Anime fan and can just name the themes as soon as they come up, you'll probably think most of the music is fairly background and forgettable, even though it's never bad or annoying, just nothing I'd never put on my MP3 player.

Verdict: Very highly recommended. It's been a good while since I had a game I was so feverishly addicted to keep playing. The fact that this is a fantastic Smash-like that is both portable and has a super strong license star power makes this an absolutely must own for any fan of Smash Bros or Anime, or even if you just like fighters or action games, I'd say this is still worth at least a try for the 10 bucks it'll cost you to import a complete copy.

I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me

Couldn't sleep this morning so I finished off Limbo. I will say that I enjoyed this one, it wasn't an amazing experience but it was definitely a good one.

I liked the art style. The bleakness of it really made some of the deaths more surprising, and given the story I don't think much colour would be appropriate, so why not go all the way to monochrome. I also like the difficulty level of the puzzles. There was only one that I had to look up a solution, everything else started to become apparent before frustration would set in. Solutions weren't always obvious, but also nothing terribly complex. The length was also good enough for me, it felt like it was about the right length. I wasn't tired of the game, but I wasn't disappointed that I'd reached the ending.

I did find it a bit uneven - I found the earlier portions of the game with the more organic locations and challenges seemed to have a bit more of an impact than the last portion with so much machinery. I also would have liked just a little more story - I don't mind when things are left up to interpretation, but sometimes I also find that giving nothing (or very close to nothing) is a bit of an easy option for a content creator.

Controls were okay on the phone since they were pretty simple, but there were a couple of deaths that I would attribute to using the touchscreen.

I'm sure the majority have already tried this game, but if you like puzzle platforming and appreciate games that focus on providing a distinct art style then Limbo is well worth the time.

I should really post every time I finish a game. I certainly don't have the stamina to write about five at once. Here are some very brief thoughts.

Oh, and I'm only playing ~*spooky*~ games this month.

Haunted House

Here's something kinda funny: though most of us tend to think of Atari as being the most ancient type of game there is, this particular Haunted House was released an entire ten years after the Odyssey game with the same name.

Anyhow, Haunted House is an early survival horror game. The hero is a hilarious pair of googly eyes, whose pupils look in the direction of movement. The goal is to escape a mansion littered with monsters and a menacing ghost. To do so, pieces of an urn must first be collected and then the exit will become available. As this is an Atari game, graphics are incredibly vague which lends itself well to the atmosphere. Staircases can be tough to locate, and it took me forever to track down the mansion's front door. Additionally, items are shrouded in darkness unless illuminated by match-light - such luminance makes googly eyes resemble a giant meatball and said light can be snuffed at any second by the howling winds of doom.

This is a great game. It's surprisingly atmospheric for such a simple title. As it's a first-party game I'd guess it's found on many compilations (I just checked - it's even on Steam!) so definitely scope it out if you're even remotely into classic horror video games.

Gremlins

Should I have saved this for Christmas?

Gremlins was released in 1984, after the gaming crash. It's not even remotely an original title as the two available (looping) levels are modeled directly after Kaboom! and Space Invaders (or any other fixed shooter). Nevertheless, difficulty is moderate and it's fun to take out for a spin now and again. Note that this is a very expensive game and an Atari 2600 exclusive; probably not worth tracking down unless you're a hardcore fan of this console...... or Gremlins.

Alien

This is more of a "longplay" than a "games beaten" to be honest. Like Pac-Man and Racketboy mod-favorite Elevator Action, Alien consists of just a single "board." Speaking of Pac-Man, the game follows that exact formula: walk over all dots and avoid/"eat" enemies to proceed. There are even power-pellet type items. Additionally, there's a flamethrower than can be activated for a few seconds per stage to repel aliens. Bonus stages are available after the "regular" ones but they're nigh unplayable. Some say this is better than the 2600 port of Pac-Man, this may be technically true though I think both are pretty swell.

Xenophobe

Midway's Xenophobe is clearly inspired by the Alien franchise, right down to the name of the game itself.

This is a weird one. It's sort of a slow run 'n' gun featuring a three-player split screen. It's purely a high score chaser as there are no other goals, level exits, or ending. Being a Midway arcade game, controls are overly complicated and bizarre. Case in point, there's a button for ducking as opposed to just pushing down. Pressing down on the d-pad instead points your gun down at an angle, which is admittedly kinda cool despite the awkwardness. The grenade special weapon is also mapped to the same button as duck, which can result in wasted items. And the jump button must be pressed to un-duck. The whole thing is unwieldy, and most damage I took felt like it was the result of battling with the controls.

Not to say this is a bad game. It's great mindless fun. Walk around, blast aliens, upgrade guns, and collect items for points. Coincidentally, the game's structure is highly reminiscent of the old hack and slash ARPG Gateway to Apshai (#67 on my list). Xenophobe loops after eight stages, and you're transported from one stage to the next once a set amount of time has passed. So yeah, if you're qualification for "beating" the game is to simply let level eight loop you can choose to sit on your ass until this happens.

I attempted the 7800 port but it was hard as shit.

Frankenstein's Monster

Kind of like a scary Pitfall! Amazing graphics, scenery, and animation but the game is hard as shit due to the fixed-arc jumping. Still, one of the "rare" Atari games actually worth tracking down. Second-best Game Over sequence in any video game ever, after the great Bokosuka Wars.

In the arcade Xenophobe has the same sort of life system as Gauntlet. That is, adding quarters extends your health meter (to a 9999 HP limit) as opposed to tacking on discrete lives. This makes it incredibly easy to credit-feed if you're emulating.

This didn't translate well to the console ports it seems, that's why I found the 7800 version so hard. Game Over occurs after the loss of that one life, and health refill items are very scarce.

The first Midway Arcade Treasures compilation is on PC. You should check that out sometime.

And Atari Vault is solid. It's pretty comparable to Atari Anthology - the greatest thing about those compilations is the inclusion of the arcade versions of certain classics games.